August 12, 2011
Exclusive: A First Look at Dinosaur Revolution
Dinosaurs aren’t exactly uncommon on television. After the debut of Walking With Dinosaurs in 2000, especially, computer-generated Tyrannosaurus, Triceratops, and other prehistoric creatures have been almost continuously stampeding across the screen. I don’t think they have ever looked quite as good as they do in the Discovery’s upcoming miniseries Dinosaur Revolution, though.
Previously titled “Reign of the Dinosaurs”, the prehistoric serial promises to “feature never-before-seen intimate behaviors to illustrate the extraordinary life of dinosaurs, dropping viewers directly into the Prehistoric era.” Based upon the exclusive promo clip above, all I can say for now is that the animation looks absolutely top notch. Fighting Cryolophosaurus, sauropods using their whip tails to wail on theropods, and more, all gorgeously animated. Really, it’s about time. After seeing so many poorly-designed, bargain basement dinosaurs on television, I’m glad to see that Dinosaur Revolution plans to pull out all the stops.
The show will premiere on September 4th, 2011, and check back here for a review of the series before it airs.
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The dinos and other critters certainly are colorful and have an impressive amount of detail, but CGI is a bit too crisp and off-color when compared to the surrounding environments. I’m interested, but cautious: Discovery tends to push melodrama over science in these documentaries: I still cringe at the memory, in a previous dino docudrama, of a raptor getting killed by a geyser that suddenly sprouted from the ground.
I hope it will be on DVD eventually, since I don’t have cable.
That is certainly impressive CGI, but the movement and some of the colors are downright awkward and weird.
And did I just see an adult T-rex with feathers? Blasphemy.
People to confuse animation with rendering…. Yes the modeling/texturing work looks fantastic, but the motion (animation) isn’t very convincing at all. They do not move like real animals, and appear to (once again….sigh) be incredibly over-exaggerated for dramatic effect. I had high hopes when this was first announced that they would finally get it right.
Also, as in most of these shows, more time should be spent on compositing. They NEED to add some blur and grain in there so the animals feel a part of their environments. Right now it looks like the dino passes were merged on top without any sort of grading or added grain. The interaction with the environment as a result looks awkward. I’ve just lost most of my excitement for this program.
I am no SFX junkie myself, but yes, some of those animations (if I can use the word here) did seem strange at the very first sight.
I also agree with what others have said about the slight over-dramatizing of the animals’ behavior, which is something that’s so common in CGI documentaries, I am not surprised to see it utilized here, as evidenced by that suspiciously perfectly executed T. rex roar. Personally, I just find it to be somewhat distracting to look at, as if I too felt the excess movements the dinosaurs make. This has actually become one of my main complaints about CGI characters.
But this is just a little montage of the more flashy stuff. Hopefully the rest of the show will take a more “lifelike” route as far as the movements and general behavior of the animals are concerned.
Hey, I’m just stoked that Masiakasaurus is in there.
FYI from the show’s director, “Looks like a lot of that footage, ESP the rexes is sped up a little. Compressing high def to low res flash also does not help the compositing.”
I just realized that the way my last post is worded it sounds like I am the director, not true, the quote is from David Krentz, director. Sorry for the confusion.
For the non-CGI stuff they used our (Cretaceousland.tripod.com) DinoResidents. The male rex’s face was filmed after he had stuck his nose – too closely – into the powdered make-up case… ala Uncle Miltie’s old gag.
This looks okay, but doesn’t this look overly similar to the upcoming BBC series Planet Dinosaur?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCMkV_GYf4w
Now This Looks Like a Dinosaur Show. It Looks AMAZING.
Now This Looks Like a Dinosaur Show. It Looks AMAZING.
Click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCMkV_GYf4w
[...] few days ago, screener copies of Discovery’s upcoming miniseries Dinosaur Revolution arrived on my doorstep. The anticipated show is already being argued over based on sneak-peek clips [...]